Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

A deaf 83-year-old motorist with a glass eye has been banned from driving for 45 days after he was caught speeding on the A9 in his new car.

Maurice Hollyfield was doing 88mph while towing a trailer on a single carriageway with a 50mph limit.
Perth Sheriff Court heard it was the second time in less than a year that the pensioner had been caught speeding. Hollyfield, from Milton Keynes, had told the court he had been reading the rev counter instead of the speedometer.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...al/7183730.stm

I honestly think that in his position, I'd ban myself for life. It initially struck me as a humorous story but really, he could have taken someone out with his driving. Time to pack it in I think.

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

I bet he didn't see that coming...

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

so he thought he was doing 7000 mph ?!

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

Someone should tap up his tacho then?

Matt

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

"told the court he had been reading the rev counter instead of the speedometer."

That's DWDC, surely?

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

also with 1 eye you have no depth perception? surely he can drive not knowing how far things are away from him?

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

ridiculously you are alolowed to drive with just the one eye, its DVLA and your doc who make that decision.
Tho i agree that it shouldn't be allowed as there is no depth preception so stopping distances etc in an emergency situation could be very compromised.

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

Sorry to correct you but most of our ability to perceive depth does not require two eyes.
It's really only retinal disparity that requires two eyes - all the other depth cues, superimposition, texture gradient, linear perspective, height in the visual plane, need only one eye and a fully developed ability to apply size constancy scaling.

Phew! Just taught my A level students all that so I hope they're reading this site!

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

To be fair, people with one eye (especially those who lose an eye later in life, rather than being born with one) do have some sense of depth perception. They work it out based on shadow, prespective, size relative to type of object (ie they know a truck is bigger than a car, therefore if a truck and car are the same size, side by side, the truck is further away) etc. The only real situation where they have no discernable depth perception is in the artifical environments of a test. Eg, in a room with perfect chrome spheres of varying sizes, and no shadows, they cannot work out which spheres are nearest the way a normally sighted person could. That's not to say they are not at a severe disadvantage when it comes to driving though...

Re: Deaf driver with glass eye banned
 

Edit: Beaten to it by Messie in more scientific terms. :)